The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.

Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine, I look right into the heart of good old New Orleans. It has given me something to live for.

Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them.

Don't do nothing halfway, else you find yourself dropping more than can be picked up.

What we play is life.

I got a simple rule about everybody. If you don't treat me right - shame on you.

If I don’t practice for a day, I know it. If I don’t practice for two days, the critics know it. And if I don’t practice for three days, the public knows it.

Each man has his own music bubbling up inside him.

And I think to myself what a wonderful world. Oh, yeah.

If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.

A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.

The church is supposed to help the people discover their calling and reveal the Kingdom of God to them

Bravery wasn’t in protecting myself from everything, it was in daring to trust, daring to love, daring to be me. Sometimes being brave meant letting go.

I would never write in response to what I believe the public wanted or needed.

I just found out about 10 days ago that I must live 300 or 400 yards from Britney Spears... so now I have to move.

I was always intensely Romantic, even when I was too young to understand what that meant.

I really wish people - maybe it's naive - wish people had priorities and were willing to be artistic patrons.

You don't see artists sitting around a lot, talking about ideology. They find out what they believe, and what they're doing, by doing it.

Profanity is the result of a weak mind trying to express itself forcably.

We are in a results business, so Stuart Pearce being a jolly old boy won't keep me in a job.

Love every part of yourself. Even the things that frustrate you. They make you who you are!